All you need to know about the World Snooker Championship final

Kyren Wilson is all set to play in his first-ever Betfred World Snooker Championship final.

The 28-year-old who grew up in and lives in Kettering has been dreaming of this moment all his career.

Here is all you need to know about the final…

Who is in the final and how did they get there?

Kyren Wilson will play the great Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of the World Championship.

Both players got through their semi-finals by the narrowest of margins with Wilson edging past qualifier Anthony McGill 17-16 after one of the most dramatic deciding frames ever.

And that was followed by another incredible conclusion to the other last-four clash as O’Sullivan battled back from 13-11 down to defeat three-time champion Mark Selby by the same scoreline.

Where and when is the final being played?

The final is being played at the home of world snooker - the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

It gets under way at 1.30pm today (Saturday) with the second session taking place tonight from 7.30pm.

The match will continue at 1.30pm tomorrow and will then be played to a finish from 7.30pm tomorrow evening.

Will a live crowd be watching?

Yes. The World Snooker Championship had been chosen as one of the government’s pilot events for bringing live crowds back to the sporting arena during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, those plans were put on hold following a spike in cases and the majority of the tournament, to this point, has been played behind closed doors.

But the government have now confirmed that the pilot programmes can be resumed, meaning the Crucible will welcome a reduced crowd of 300 fans for the final two days of the tournament.

Where can I watch the final?

The final will be screened live on both BBC Television and Eurosport. You can also watch it online on the BBC website.

What is the format of the final?

It will be played over the best of 35 frames meaning the first to 18 will be crowned world champion.

What is at stake?

Obviously, the most important thing is the glory of joining the elite group of players to have been crowned world champion.

The winner will receive the famous World Championship trophy and a cheque for £500,000. The runner-up will receive £200,000.

Should Kyren Wilson win, he will jump from number eight to number four in the world rankings.

How do the players match up?

Kyren Wilson first turned professional in 2010 but it wasn’t until 2015 when he burst onto the world stage by beating Judd Trump to win the Shanghai Masters - his first ranking title.

Since then, he has been a consistent performer and won two more ranking titles while he also reached the final of the Masters in 2018 before going on to make his first semi-final appearance in the World Championship where he was beaten by John Higgins.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is widely regarded as one of the best players to ever grace the green baize.

He has won the world title five times - his first being in 2001 when Wilson was just nine years old.

The 44-year-old has been a professional since 1992 and is the only player to have made over 1,000 career century breaks, including 15 maximum 147s as well as the fastest one in five minutes and eight seconds at the World Championship in 1997.

He has earned more than £11m in prize money in his career and has won 36 ranking titles.

What is the head-to-head record between the two?

The two players have met on six occasions with Ronnie O’Sullivan holding a 4-2 advantage in the head-to-heads.

Kyren Wilson won the first meeting between the duo when he beat O’Sullivan 4-3 in the fourth round of the Northern Ireland Open in 2016.

However, the next four meetings went in O’Sullivan’s favour with two being in finals - the English Open in 2017 and the Champion of Champions in 2018.

The last match between them saw Wilson claim a 6-5 success in the semi-finals of the Welsh Open in February this year.